Chapter 3
On the way home, we stopped at the baby store so that we could get the stuff that Davanee would need for the next five days or so.
"Why don't you take the baby and go look at clothes while Soda and I go get diapers and stuff" suggested Darry. I said ok and strapped Davanee into one of those shopping carts that had a little babies seat. I was so confused when I got to the clothes section. They had it divided by age like 5 months, 1 year, newborn, stuff like that.
"Lost?" asked a lady. She looked like she worked at the store.
"Slightly. You see, she's my cousin and I have no idea how old she is" I said.
"Two weeks probably. Two weeks to a month. Try looking over there" said the lady as she pointed to a section that was filled with really little baby clothes.
"Thanks" I said and pushed the cart in that direction.
"Let's see here" I said, studying two different outfits.
I held the outfits up in front of Davanee and asked, "which do you prefer, pink dress with butterflies and matching hat or yellow jumper with bumblebees?"
Davanee smiled when I showed her the pink dress so we went with that one. The yellow one was kind of ugly anyways. We got a couple more outfits, some onesies, and another blanket that had flowers on it.
We walked over to the diaper isle, which was where we found Soda and Darry.
"What did you get?" asked Soda.
"Just some clothes to get her through the week" I replied, "what did you get?"
"A bunch of diapers, baby powder, lotion, and all that stuff" said Soda. Darry threw it all in the cart and we continued to look through the rest of the store. We didn't get a crib or anything because we still had the crib that Darry, Soda, and I had used when we where babies.
"What about toys?" I asked.
"Do you think we'll need 'em?" asked Darry.
"If she's anything like me, she'll get bored easily" I said.
"Good point. Get her a teddy bear or something" suggested Darry. I got her a pink teddy bear that played music when you wound it up in the back. It played twinkle, twinkle, little star. We bought some more little stuffed animals and left. That was enough shopping for one day.
When we got home, I set up my old crib in the guest room. She looked tired so I decided that it was time to put her down for a nap.
I put her new blanket and new teddy bear in the crib, all of which she seemed to like.
"Night, baby" I said leaving the room. As soon as I left, she started crying. I went back in and started singing that teddy bear song again. She fell asleep almost instantly. I shut her bedroom door quietly and threw myself down on the couch.
"Exhausted?" asked Darry, who was reading the paper.
"Beyond belief. I have no idea what I'm doing" I said.
"Your still a kid. Your not suppose to know how to take care of a kid just yet" replied Darry. When I sat up on the couch, I could see Steve and Two-Bit coming up the walk. I got up and held the door open so that Two-Bit wouldn't slam it shut.
"What's happenin'?" asked Two-Bit, a bit too loud.
"Shhh, not so loud" I said, "the baby's sleeping."
"Oh yeah. I forgot about her" said Two-Bit, "what's her name?"
"Davanee Austin" I replied.
"Davanee? Who names their kid Davanee?" asked Steve.
"Jamie did" said Soda, coming out of his room.
"Who's Jamie?" asked Two-Bit.
"Her mom" I replied.
"Oh" said Two-Bit, "where is she?"
"I don't know" I said, "her brother showed up here last night with Davanee. Wait a minute, you where here. Why am I telling you this? I guess I must be more tired then I thought."
"Why don't you go take a nap" suggested Darry.
"Not a bad idea. See you guys later" I said, marching to the guest room. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out.
SODA'S POV
"Poor kid" I said, sitting down on the couch, "he was up all night with her."
"When do you hear back from the doctor?" asked Steve.
"Next week I guess" said Darry.
"This week is gonna go by slowly" I said. Everybody seemed to agree with me on that.
I still couldn't believe that my baby brother might be a dad. It just didn't seem possible. I thought for sure I would have kids before he did. I don't even remember him going to the party at the Shepard place. He must of snuck out. But wouldn't he have told me if he was going or not? This just wasn't like him. He wouldn't sneak out, he wouldn't drink, and he most certainly wouldn't do anything with a girl he didn't know. He was smarter then that. He was better then that. That sounds like something I would do. As a matter of fact, I have done that before. But a baby never resulted from it. I was always careful. I didn't want to end up some low life with a baby. Wait a minute, why am I saying this? I could be talking about my brother here.
I wonder if he knew everything he could be throwing away. This might ruin his chances of going to good college or going to a college at all. He would never be happy if he had to stay here the rest of his life with only a high school degree. I might be happy with that but he wouldn't.
"Soda?" asked Darry, breaking into my thoughts, "you ok?"
I snapped out of it and said "yeah. Just got distracted is all."
Darry gave me a strange look before going back to reading the newspaper.
The rest of the afternoon went by as it normally did, uneventful. Ponyboy woke up around 4 or so.
"Hey sleeping beauty" I said as he walked out of the guest room.
"Hey" said Pony, rubbing the sleep from his eye.
"You've been a sleep for awhile" I remarked.
"I know, I needed it" said Pony. The baby started crying.
"Davanee's up" I remarked.
"No kidding" said Pony, "she's probably hungry. Would you mind making her a bottle while I get her out of the crib?"
"I don't know how to make a bottle" I said.
"All you have to do is mix the powder with water. It's easy" said Pony. Since I didn't know if I mixed the formula in the bottle or someplace else, I mixed it in cup and then poured it in.
Ponyboy appeared in the kitchen with Davanee in his arms.
"You wanna feed her?" asked Pony.
"Yeah sure." I sat down at the kitchen table and gave Davanee her bottle.
The week went by without hearing a word from the doctor. That is until that Saturday afternoon. I was outside with Pony and Davanee when the phone rang. Pony was getting up to answer it but I said "you stay out here with her. I'll get it." I rushed inside and picked up the phone, expecting it to be Sandy. I hadn't heard from her all day and she normally calls me every day.
"Hello" I said into the phone.
"Hello. Is this the Curtis residence?" asked the lady.
"Yes it is. Who's this?"
"This is Dr. Irene. Davanee's pediatrician. I have the test results."
"Oh let me get Pony." I set the phone down on the coffee table and went outside.
"Ponyboy, phones for you. It's Dr. Irene" I said. Pony's eyes got wide and he jumped up and ran inside. I stayed outside and watched Davanee.
PONY'S POV
"Hello?" I asked, a bit apprehensive.
"Ponyboy? This is Dr. Irene. I have your test results back" said Dr. Irene.
"Ok" I said, waiting for the news.
"Are you sitting down?" asked the doctor.
I sat down on the couch and said "yes, I'm sitting down."
"The results are positive. You are Davanee's father." I felt my heart sink. I'm not sure if I was happy or sad.
"If you need any help at all, don't hesitate to call" said Dr. Irene. I hung up the phone without saying goodbye. Davanee was my daughter. The words kept repeating in my head, like a broken record.
I walked back outside and collapsed in the rocking chair.
"What did she say?" asked Soda.
"What?" I asked. I was so wrapped up in the news, I didn't hear Soda.
"I said, what did she say?"
"They're positive. She's mine" I said, my voice no louder then a whisper.
"I suspected it all along" said Soda, looking down at the baby, "she looks like you. I wonder what Darry's gonna say when he finds out." Darry's reaction hadn't even occurred to me. Would he yell at me like he did when Davanee came here? I guess that question would be answered pretty soon because Darry's car pulled up in the driveway.
"Hey Dar" said Soda, "how was work today?"
"It was ok. Nothing special. Did the doctor call today?" Nobody answered.
Darry asked again "did she?"
I nodded my head yes.
"Well, what did she say?"
"The results are positive. She's mine" I said, my head hung low.
At first Darry didn't say anything. But then he said "we better get inside. It's getting cold and we don't want the baby getting sick." I wonder if Darry realized it was the middle of May. I didn't ask and took the baby inside.
While everybody else ate dinner, I gave Davanee her bottle. I hardly ate dinner with everybody else anymore. For some reason, she liked to be outside while I was giving her the bottle. When she was done, I sat the bottle aside and rocked her a little while. For the first time, she looked up with those big green eyes and smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back. I thought this moment would come when I was like twenty something, maybe thirty something. I didn't know it would come when I was 14 but then again, it's not like anybody plans for that. I leaned down and kissed her bald, little head. I took her inside, and laid her down to go to sleep. Again, she started crying when I left the room. I had forgotten to sing the teddy bear song to her.
Once I was done, I walked out to the living room and noticed Two-Bit and Steve had come by, bringing two big brown boxes.
"What's all this?" I asked.
"These are clothes for Davanee. They where my sisters. My mom thought you could use them more then we could" said Two-Bit. I opened up one of the boxes to reveal piles of little girls clothes. The other box had a bunch of old toys in them. I pulled out a book a couple of books that I was very fond of when I was little. The books where all Dr. Seuss of course and they where classics like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Green eggs and ham, and Oh! The places you will go.
"You think she'll like 'em?" I asked.
"If she's like you, she'll love 'em. Remember how Mom use to read the Grinch to you every Christmas? Maybe you can started that tradition with Davanee" said Soda. Christmas was a ways off so I didn't want to have to think about it just yet.
"Last year was the first Christmas we didn't read the grinch" I said. The room fell silent. I felt bad for bringing up mom.
"I'm going to bed. I mine as well get some sleep while I still can" I said, getting up to go into Soda's room. I changed into my PJ's and went to sleep in the guest room.
Davanee woke up around 3. I made her a bottle and changed her diaper. But of course, the 3 am feeding wouldn't be complete without the song. I thought that maybe I should just record that song for her and play it whenever she got fussy.
Once she fell back asleep, I laid her down gently in her crib. I watched her sleep for a little while. She looked like a little angel.